1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the art of reclining chairs and, more particularly, is directed to manually-operated reclining chairs.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Handle-operated reclining chairs are well known in this art. Typically, a handle is mounted within hand-reach of a seated user, and is turned to effect reclining movement of the seat and the backrest from the upright position to the fully-reclined position, and/or to effect extension of the footrest. The prior art handles are also used to return the seat and the backrest from the fully-reclined position back to the upright position, and/or to retract the footrest.
Although generally satisfactory for their intended purpose, the handle for the prior art reclining chair requires a relatively large amount of muscular effort on the occupant's part to both forwardly and rearwardly move the seat, the backrest and the footrest. The prior art handle is kinematically connected to the recliner and the footrest linkage mechanisms of the known reclining chairs such that each position of the handle has a one-to-one correspondence with a distinct position of the chair.
In order to operate the prior art chairs, a relatively long handle is required to reduce the amount of muscular effort otherwise required. However, long massive handles are aesthetically displeasing and also pose a safety hazard.
An incliner is a type of reclining chair which has two positions, i.e. the upright or closed position and the fully-reclined position. Incliners are operated by having the user use his own muscular effort on the armrests to pull himself, the seat, the backrest and the footrest all together forwardly. To the best of my knowledge, none of the present day incliners are handle-operated.
One problem associated with the prior art two-way incliners is that the amount of strength required to recline the chair may be more than users of limited strength, such as children, may possess.
Another problem associated with the currently known incliners is that users are reluctant to buy incliners because they are accustomed to grasping the armrests and pushing themselves rearwardly in order to recline the chair. Users are not yet sufficiently acclimated to incliners which require the user to grasp the armrests and pull himself forwardly in order to recline the chair. Hence, some users are unsatisfied with incliners because they erroneously believe that their incliners are inoperative when they push, rather than pull, on the armrests.